Sunday, May 29, 2005

I'm reelin' - a nightbird extravaganza

Our friend Chris Jones joined Liz and me for a couple of days of 'nightbirding' around the fens and Brecks this weekend.

Yesterday was spent around Farcet Fen and the Benefield area enjoying great views of Grey Partridge, Hobby and Red Kites while the evening was spent at a rather chilly Woodwalton Fen where we had great Woodcock, Hobby and Long-eared Owl action. But this was topped with views of Chinese Water Deer and . . . Badger! Wow! While watching a baby LEO, a Badger came trotting right up to us along the ride! I've never seen Badger in the fens before so this was pretty cool!

We followed this up with some amazing Barn Owl watching and 1-2 calling Spotted Crakes.

Today dawned late after yesterday's late night, and over breakfast in the garden we emptied the moth trap. I was pleasantly surprised at the quantity and was amazed at the quality since I thought the cool night would have been a no-hoper.

The afternoon was spent at Woodwalton Fen enjoying dragons (including Scarce Chaser and Hairy Drag) and damselfies (mainly Red-eyed and Azure Blue). Birds were a little quiet, but included more Hobby action, some great views of Marsh Harrier, a Little Owl we watched whilst having lunch, and a party of well-guarded cygnets lead to a rather long detour to avoid stressing mum and dad and us!

Last night was so cool that we only heard a single Nightingale as we left, and not a single Grasshopper Warbler (recently up to 5+ reeling birds heard). So we were surprised when a Gropper started reeling along one of the rides. It was presumably the same bird Liz and I had failed to pin down a couple of weeks back, so I didn't hold out much hope. Amazingly, I found it sat in the top of a dwarf willow low in the reeds and could just about squeeze a near-reed-free scope view through the reeds. Fantastic!

We finished the day off in Brecks. Our first stop was a Breck heath whre we enjoyed a pair of Stone-curlews gaurding their single small chick from a circling Common Buzzard, before moving on to Thetford Forest for dusk with Woodcocks and Nightjars. It was simply magical (as any good Nightjar night should be). Cloud cover, warm and loads of churring males. We had at least five males delivering their eerie songs and two birds in particular really showing off with countless bouts of wing-clapping and 'dancing' around a single tall tree in the middle of a clear-fell area. The only odd thing about the evening was not a single female was seen.